Snoozles and the blind bandit
by just delete this account
Summary: Destiny is a funny thing. Whatever you think it is, most of the time it doesn't come true, but in the end, just when you stop hoping...it happens... summary inside. Anyway, pairings: TOKKA ZUKAANG and maybe some JETARA


ZOMG!!!! My first tokka fanfic!!!!! Hmmm what to say? Um I think the plot I managed to come up with is gonna be really hard to do, but hopefully I can pull it off. I'm pretty sure I'm gonna make TONS of mistakes. Especially with timelines, I fail so hard at timelines, and often I had to think and rethink things a thousand times for it to make sense. XDDD. Now, as you've probably read in the summary, there's gonna be some Zukaang in here as well. But before you run away screaming (yes I'm talking to you, you mean, homophobe people) let me just say, that it's (for me) very lightly implied. You might not even have to think of it that way if you want, so no bitching about that, Kapeesh?! I love zukaang and I don't give a flying f*#$ about your homophobia you haters.

Summary: Snoozles and the blind bandit, a novel about a bunch of street children, struggling through the harsh life in the slums of Hong Kong is a newly nationally acclaimed book and a debut novel by Lee Wolfe. Suki, a 22 year old journalist, sees some parts of the book as very accurate portrayals of some of the events in her child hood and curious as to who exactly this Lee Wolfe guy is…Her boss managed to score an interview with him and Suki, to her joy, was sent to go to Hong Kong to interview him….

Now I know it sounds more like a Sukka fic right now but I swear to god it's NOT!!

Oh and how can I forget… this fic is dedicated to my friends Bernice and Kristen, without whose enthusiasm, this fic may never have existed. Specially Bernice who proudly ships Tokka ^^

Erhm…now that I got that out of my system….here you go:

I DON'T OWN ANYTHING. Avatar : the last airbender belongs to Michael Dante Di Martino and Bryan Konietzko. If it were ever to belong to me, kids will be scarred for life and angry parents will be chasing me with torches and pitchforks.

* * *

She gazed out the coffee shop's glass window, absently paying attention to the rhythmic sound her fingers made against the wooden table as she drummed them boredly. She sighed as she watched people run with their hands, bags, jackets and whatever it is they have in their hands, held above their heads, trying feebly to shield themselves from the downpour as they ran to seek shelter from the rain. Her fingers stopped their drumming as she brought her wrist up to her face and gazed at her watch.

20 minutes late.

Her blue eyes turned back to the window, eyebrows creasing as she noted the steadily worsening rain outside. _'in this weather, there's an 80% chance that he won't come'_ With a heavy sigh, she bent down and grabbed her messenger bag, hoisting it onto her lap as she rummaged in it for her phone. Her hand nudged the metal of her spiraled notepad and she pulled it out, gazing at the words she scribbled on top of the first page the night before.

Interview with Lee Wolfe, author of publicly acclaimed book, "Snoozles and the Blind Bandit"

She pouted at the innocent bundle of paper as if it were the cause of her misfortune. This is probably the most important interview she has ever done in her entire career, and now the person she was supposed to be interviewing ditched her because of bad weather? She came all the way out here to Hong Kong, the place she vowed never to return to for the rest f her life again, for nothing?! She glared at the notepad before dropping it on the table with more force than necessary. It landed with a loud "slap!" and she jumped in her chair slightly, startled at how loud the sudden sound was in the mostly empty coffee shop she was in.

She looked around checking to see if anyone paid attention to the slamming of her notepad on the table and cringed as she saw all the other customers' shoot disapproving looks at her for disturbing them from whatever it is they were doing. She flinched when her gaze landed on one particular young woman who had long raven hair pulled up into twin buns at the top of her head, sitting on the opposite side of the shop, with a laptop open in front of her. She glared at her with a look that was nothing short of _scary_, from underneath the straight line of her bangs for the noise she unintentionally made and she shrank back in her seat, turning all her attention to rummaging her bag again, blushing in embarrassment as she did so. A glare never made her so nervous in her life. The phrase, "Glaring daggers" wasn't nearly enough to describe it. That girl glares not just with daggers, but with knives, swords, darts, needless and everything sharp and pointy she could think of. She almost sighed with relief when she finally managed to find her phone and hurriedly pulled it out, starting to type a text message to her boss as soon as her fingers touched the keys, not wanting to make a call and risk disturbing the scary girl with the laptop. If a simple notepad falling on the table echoed so much in this place, who knows how loud a voice would?

"Here's the jasmine tea you ordered"

She looked up from her text messaging to find the old man at the cashier who had taken her order earlier, standing there with a small tray in his hand. She muttered a soft thank you at him as he placed the steaming cup of tea in front of her, offering him a small smile afterward. He returned her smile with one of his own.

"I hope you enjoy it, it's our specialty."

She gave him a small smile.

"So, are you waiting for someone? You've been staring out the window and checking your watch again and again for quite a while"

He asked in heavily accented English and she let out a small laugh. "As a matter of fact, I am waiting for someone." The old man's aged golden eyes twinkled as he asked. "Oh? A friend? Or perhaps a boyfriend? I would not be surprised if it's the latter." He said, grinning. A really faint blush wormed it's way up her cheeks at the implications of his statement as she replied. "No. I'm supposed to be meeting someone because of my job, buuuuut.-" she turned her eyes to the rain outside.

"I don't think he's gonna make it here in this weather."

She turned her gaze back to the friendly old man to find him stroking his gray beard thoughtfully. "Hmmm…If you don't mind me asking, what exactly is your job miss?" he asked, pulling out the chair opposite hers and sitting on it. "Do you mind chatting with an old tea loving coffee shop owner while you wait for that person do you?" he asked. She contemplated that for a split second before shrugging. It wasn't like she had anything else to do and the old man seemed really nice…She can text her boss later. She smiled at him again. "No I don't mind…I'm a journalist, I work for a teen magazine and my name is.-"

"I would assume it's Jennie?" he asked, pointing to her shirt.

She looked down on it, following his line of sight to the ID clipped to her chest that clearly said, Jennie Kwan. "Oh" she muttered, looking up at him. "Well….that's my English name, but since I'm here, where I was born, I go by the name my mother gave me. I'm Suki, Suki Kwan" she said, extending her hand out to him politely. He grasped her hand in his bigger, more wrinkled one and shook it.

"I am Iroh Li. Pleased to meet you miss Kwan"

They exchanged smiles as they let go of each other's hands and pulled theirs back to themselves.

"So….you are here to interview someone?" he asked.

Suki, who had just lifted her tea cup to her lips to take a sip, paused, her lips hovering above the rim as she answered. "U huh. I don't know if you've heard of him but he's a new author that's quickly becoming famous in the US for his debut novel. My sources say he was born here in Hong Kong. His name is Lee Wolfe" she said before blowing a few times on her still steaming cup of tea and taking a small sip.

Iroh stroked his beard thoughtfully again, eyes focused somewhere upward, looking deep in thought.

"Hmmm….Lee Wolfe…..I'm pretty sure I've heard that name before….What's the title of the novel he wrote?" He asked, turning his faded ocher eyes back to her.

"Snoozles and the blind bandit" Suki answered.

Iroh's face brightened in realization and he snapped his fingers in the 'A ha!' gesture at her answer. "Now I remember. My nephew has that book. I'd think he really likes it, he's read it over a thousand times by now." He said. Suki raised an eyebrow. "You'd think he likes it?" she asked. If he's read it over and over then he was pretty much bound to like it right? Iroh chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly as he spoke "Well…it's hard to tell…he doesn't really _like_ anything." Suki's eyebrows rose up in understanding. "Ohhhhh…he's one of those people huh?" she asked wondering if Iroh's nephew was an emo, a goth or just a generally, angry and unhappy jerk.

Iroh shrugged.

"He's a very kind and loving person, he just doesn't show it" he said with a grin. "Anyway, back to Lee Wolfe, do _you_ like his novel?" Iroh asked. Suki was silent for a few seconds, eyes straying downward, in truth she did love the book, It's sometimes lame joking narration aside, the book was pretty good, but it's not the reason she was deeply attached to it…She looked back up at Iroh's face as she answered. "I do. I could really….relate to it" she said._ 'Literally'_ she added in her head, mind lingering in the parts of the novel that she was pretty sure were pages from her own life…

Iroh nodded slowly." Hmmm. I gotta try reading it one of these days….Wait, I have a question, don't authors usually meet with journalists and reporters in the hotels their staying in or some other fancy place?" Iroh asked. Suki nodded. "Well yes, usually that's what author's do, but he for some reason told my boss that he wanted to meet here."

Just then the bell at the door that rings every time someone comes in sounded and both Suki and Iroh turned their heads to look. A bald teenager, about 16, with pale skin and wide gray eyes entered, soaking wet but looking not nearly as down as he should be considering he's drenched from head to toe. His eyes scanned the shop for a second or two and his face brightened as he spotted Iroh. He shot Iroh a wide grin and gave him a small wave. Suki's eyebrows furrowed. This kid kinda looks familiar…Where had she seen him before?

"Is he-?" he began, but Iroh cut him off.

"Yes, I believe he's waiting for you upstairs…I'll go call him" Iroh said standing up from his seat. The boy shook his head and held his hands out in front of him as if to stop Iroh. "No, no you don't have to, I could go fetch him myself-" he said before getting cut off once again by Iroh. "No, no, no, you just stay here and have a nice warm drink to ward off the cold while I fetch him and perhaps some dry clothes of his that you could borrow." The boy opened his mouth to protest again but Iroh stopped him, holding up a finger and fixing him with a stern look. "No use arguing. Now, go find yourself a spot and have a seat." The boy looked hesitant but replied "Okay….thank you" he gave Iroh a small smile and went to the closest table, pulling out the chair and sitting down, peeling off his drenched hoodie and hanging it on the back of the chair as soon as he was settled.

Iroh turned his attention back to Suki and nodded at her. "Well, I must go. It was really nice to meet you Miss Kwan. I hope Mr. Wolfe still shows up. It's really rude to ditch a very lovely woman such as yourself." She smiled at him. "It was a pleasure talking to you." He grinned. "Like wise. Enjoy your tea" he said before turning around and walking away. "You want the usual right?" Iroh asked the bald kid that came in earlier as he walked past his table.

Suki turned her attention back to her cell phone on the table, contemplating reaching for it and sending that message to her boss saying that Lee Wolfe didn't come, but rejecting the thought in favor of just sitting back and enjoying her tea. She turned her attention to her tea and raised the teacup to her lips taking a sip and sighing as the warm tea made flowed down her throat, spreading pleasant warmth all the way down to her stomach.

Her blue eyes turned back to the downpour outside, sighing heavily as she noticed how strong it _still _was. She was really looking forward to meeting Lee Wolfe. She was pretty sure that whoever he was, he more than possibly knew her a long time ago….he was one of them…His book had really surprised Suki the first time she read it. The setting was the exact same world of horror she spent her painful child hood in, some of the scenes were distinct if not very accurate portrayals of some of the memories she had from the hellish young life she shared with many unfortunate others, and finally, some of the characters have the exact same names as actual people she used to know.

After reading his book, she was pretty sure Lee Wolfe was one of the children who were kidnapped and used for child labour here in Hong Kong like she was and she was determined to meet him and find out …It would have been a _huge_ relief if she found out that aside from her, at least one of them made it to the real world and is now successful and safe, to know that at least, one of them was alive…

But….

She stared at the water cascading down the shop's glass window. Destiny, is apparently giving her a big, fat, _No!_ She turned blue eyes away from the window and onto the bag still resting on her lap. She reached into it, rummaging around for a second or two before pulling out a hard bound copy of a book. The cover showed a picture of a stick drawing of a boy and a girl, etched into the dirt. Just to the side of the drawing, a dirt covered elongated piece of rock lay, clearly used for drawing the picture, and above the stick figures, the words "Snoozles and the Blind Bandit, a novel by Lee Wolfe" were printed in bold blue letters. Suki placed the book on the table and flipped to the last page, eyes intently locked on the, single, little quote printed on the middle of the page.

"_Destiny is a funny thing…whatever you think it is, most of the time it doesn't come true, but in the end, just when you stop hoping….it happens….so don't lose hope" _

"Destiny and hope huh?"

Suki murmured, eyes still locked on the printed letters. Hopeful is just another word for naïve. It's amazing how some people could find silver linings even in the thickest and grayest of clouds. And even more amazing how some people even go as far as to find imaginary silver linings, still believing, still hoping, despite being buried in a mountain of misfortune, even in the face of hunger, pain and illness…

In her mind, she saw a young boy with a ponytail, deeply tanned skin, ridiculously bright blue eyes, and a wide, silly, grin.

The embodiment of hopeful….She wondered what happened to him…This quote was exactly what she'd expect him to say…Whoever Lee Wolfe was…it was very possible that he knew, and actually knew, not just knew of, _him_. She swiftly flipped through the pages, stopping at a random page and taking in the first word that her eyes landed on.

'_Sokka'_

She sighed. One of the main characters of the book, Lee Wolfe didn't really dwell much on Sokka's appearance, but everything else about him, his personality, his beliefs, his attitude, his habits, heck even his _name _were all _his_…the boy she looked up to and admired all those years ago. She wondered what had happened to him and how did Lee Wolfe knew him….

'_Ding'_

The bell on the door rang again, it's high pitched sound, resonating in the silent coffee shop. Suki looked up to find a man about her age, dressed in a crisp blue button down shirt and denim jeans. His chin length dark brown hair was soppy from the rain and it fell over his eyes. His dark skin glistened slightly with a few droplets and his shoulders and the lower half of his pants were wet. In his hand was a drenched fold up umbrella(A/N: I have no idea what they're called, so feel free to correct me if I'm wrong XD) Suki was absently observing how the light blue of his shirt greatly contrasted with the dark of his skin, when he shook his soaked bangs out of his face and his bright blue eyes met hers. She blinked, temporarily stunned by the vividness of the color of his irises. In the considerably dim coffee shop and against the background of his skin, the blue was almost glowing.

They held each other's gazes for a split second before his eyes moved down to the ID clipped to her shirt and his eyebrows shot up, a smile stretching out on his lips. She only sat there, staring as he made his way to her table and stopped behind the seat Iroh had sat in earlier.

"Hi there" he greeted.

"…Hi…" she replied hesitantly.

Now that he was closer and his hair was out of his face, she was struck with the familiarness of his face. She was sure she'd seen him before but where? She can't put his face to a name, but it's there, at the very, very, tip of her tounge.

"Are you from the magazine that wants to do a section about my book?"

Suki blinked once, twice, three times…..

This…..

…………..was Lee Wolfe……???

"Uhhmmm…yeah…Yeah. Uh, I'm Jennie Kwan…Err…Nice to meet you Lee." She replied, snapping out of her "he looks familiar" thoughts and reaching into her bag for her pen with one hand and grabbing her notepad with the other.

He grinned at her before pulling out the chair he was standing behind and sitting down on it. "Nice to meet you too Jennie, but could you do me a favor?" he asked, leaning his cheek against his palm. Suki, who was still trying to figure out why he was so familiar, and was therefore lost in her own thoughts, managed to comprehend his question and nod. "I'm in my home country right now and today, I wanna be called by my real name." He leaned in closer, hand cupped to his mouth as if he was gonna whisper a huge secret.

"Don't tell anyone k? My real name is Sokka Han."

* * *

I know, I know….It's awfully short and it doesn't make sense….yet. I assure you though that in due time, the story will be clearer and hopefully, more interesting. Now, you may have the noticed the hints of SuKka above and let me just confirm that YES, this IS a TOKKA fic, and I'll prove that later on. There will be a few microscopic hints of Sukka here and there but other than that, they are, and always will be (In this fic at least XD) friends and JUST friends.

As for Sokka's pen name, Lee Wolfe, was derived from two things:

One: Master Piandiao, Sokka's master, told him that if he was going to disguise himself he should use the name Li…but since Li is already Iroh's last name, I changed the spelling to Lee.

Two: Wolfe…well…..That wolf helmet he wears as a part of his armor is cool ^^


End file.
